Habitat 67 is a housing complex located on the Saint Lawrence river, in front of the Old Port of Montreal. The design was created by the architect Moshe Safdie for his master’s thesis at McGill University. “The building was realized as the main pavilion and thematic emblem for the International World Exposition and its theme, Man and His World, held in Montreal in 1967. Born of the socialist ideals of the 1960s, Safdie’s thesis housing project explored new solutions to urban design challenges and high-density living.” (CAC, McGill University).
On the picture brazilian architect and urbanist Henri Lesbaupin contemplates the building.

When visiting Montreal in 1881, Mark Twain said “This is the first time I was ever in a city where you couldn’t throw a brick without breaking a church window.” This is certainly true still today and one of the finest examples of the city religious heritage is the Cathedral-basilica Mary, Queen of the World, located downtown.

Completed in 1967, Saint Joseph’s Oratory is a Roman Catholic basilica on the nothern slopes of Mount Royal and a landmark of Canada. The dome is the second-largest in the world after Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome and the church is the largest in Canada, receiving each year more than 2 million visitors. The elevator hall can be seen on another interactive panoramic photography.

Completed in 1967, it was only in march 2007 that the Saint Joseph’s Oratory gained its first elevator. The Oratory is a Roman Catholic basilica on the nothern slopes of Mount Royal and a landmark of Canada. The dome is the largest in the world after Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

Home of the Grey Cup 2008 in Montreal, the stadium was Built for the 1976 Olympic Games and is one of the city’s landmarks that with the Mont Royal and the (mental) map of the streets, it’s used as a reference point to know where one is and where to head to. In 2007 the stadium hosted the FIFA Soccer World Cup U-20 games with more than 200 thousand people attendance.

Designed by French architect Roger Taillibert based on forms of plants and animals, the stadium is cited as a masterpiece of Organic Modern Architecture. Its inclined tower is the tallest in the world and features a funicular leading to the observation deck, giving the visitant a remarkable aerial view from the city.

Every three months the World Wide Panorama (WWP) gathers photographers from all around the world to picture their environment under one same subject, which this time was Elevation. On the previous one I shot the basement of Museum of Archaeology and History Pointe à Callière.

This time I decided to participate on the last moments. Time was running out, deadline was rushing in and I haven’t given much thought about it so I run to the only geological landmark that is over 1ft above ground around here: the Mountain (“la Montagne“) as we all call it or, the Mont Royal.

Shot on the same day as the 360° panoramic view of Montreal downtown, this is a 240 megapixels photo. Click on it to view an extremely detailed view from Montreal. Use the buttons to zoom in to explore every detail from its buildings and landscape: mounts St-Hilaire and St-Bruno can be seen on the background; search for Jacques-Cartier and Champlain bridges; look for Radio-Canada (CBC), Hydro-Québec and McGill University beautifull campus among several others.

This is my most recent submission to the World Wide Panorama, shot at the undergrounds of the Musée PAC. “Laid out in 1643 by French colonists as part of Fort Ville-Marie, the first catholic cemetery of Montréal can be seen by visitors at the Museum of Archaeology and History Pointe-à-Callière. Part of an extensive complex of ancient structures, digging sites and layers over layers of history of the Nouvelle-France, all forming the archaeological crypt of the museum, the cemetery is the oldest man-made structure directly associated with the founding of the city.”

Here you can see the vaulted stone tunnel carrying what was once the Little Saint-Pierre River, now a collector sewer dating back to 1832.

The permanent exposition Where Montréal Was Born covers six centuries of history taking you to an authentic archaeological site where you can see the birthplace of the city in the museum’s undergrounds.

As you step back in time following a trail marked with archaeological remains and artifacts, different incarnations of this site are revealed showing six hundred years of history, from the times when Natives camped here to the present day.

Illuminated by Christmas lights at McGill College ave., the Secret Bench stands indifferent to the weather. Work of the artist Lea Vivot, the Secret Bench can be seen in many places throughout the world like Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto; New York and London. Each bench is inscribed by famous poets and writers from around the world.

Located on the western tip of the island, at the junction of Deux Montagnes Lake and des Prairies River, Cap Saint-Jacques Nature Park is Montréal’s largest park and has nice cross-country ski, hike and snowshoe trails. These are the familiar type and style of trails, most of the time flat with sporadically (easy) slopes. The “Château Gohier”, a hundred years old stone building, serves today as a restaurant for visitors.